bp_fowler

Yeah winter can be a bummer. I thought last winter was bad when I didn’t catch anything between November 21st to February 15th. Looking back I now realize I was lucky just to be able to fish. P.S. Give it time and that score will flip dramatically.

Ice has finally started to melt here. The pond we call the Gun Club was first up for since I use it something of a bellwether. If they’re biting there the larger bodies of water aren’t far behind. I started out throwing flatsides, jerkbaits, and slow rolling a double Colorado. I spent about an hour and fifteen minutes with nothing to show. I think in my excitement to get out on the water I was a little too aggressive with my lure selection. I downsized to a 3.25” paddle tail on a 1/8 oz bal jig and worked my way back around the bank. I caught this guy which is way smaller than most of @Team9nine crappies, but it’s my first bass of 2025 so I believe it’s worthy.

I’m on the bank most of the time, so it is far more useful and efficient for me to have a handful of rods that can do multiple things. I can only carry two setups without it becoming a serious PITA. Generally speaking my selection is based upon the relationship between a rods length/power and the density of the primary cover at the body of water that I’m planning on fishing as well as the anticipated casting distance which can vary greatly depending upon the topography.

I’m a huge fan of the Crush City Mayor rigged weedless on a weighted belly hook. It’s tough, easily to skip and catches fish. However the good ol’ SK Rage Swimmer has also caught a ton of fish for me. The smaller 3.25” on 1/8 oz swimbait heads or ball jigs. The larger 3.75” works great as a trailer for chatter baits and swim jigs. When combined with an Owner Flashy swimmer it is my preferred option for underspins.

I used to struggle with jigs. Late last year I got good enough at pitching that they started working well for me. So now the only common bait type that I still struggle with are topwater. I’ve caught fish a few fish with poppers and a Choppo, so I’ll definitely use those. I also have some buzzbaits and spooks, that have gotten swiped at but haven’t caught anything yet. I’d like to change that this year.

By this time last year I had already caught my first bass. Not so much this year. This the first really cold winter we’ve had since I moved back to Ohio. It’s 19 degrees as I write this and all of my spots are still frozen over. I’m hoping for mid March.

yeah but the only ones that get snagged are the ones that get bit.

I just started using them last season and they worked better than I expected. In my opinion they are just a blast to fish, bomb them out there, grind them into the bottom and ricochet them off shallow cover. The bad news is that I’m limited on where and when I can fish them as a bank angler. Once the weeds top out its game over.

I use stuff from all the major brands, or at least what I consider “major”. Shimano, Daiwa, Lew’s, and Abu. Admittedly I’ve been on a bit of a Daiwa kick lately. The last 4 rods and reels (3 baitcasters, 1 spinning) I’ve purchased have come from them. Although I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a “Daiwa Guy” just yet since I still use my other rods and wouldn’t be against buying one of the other brands if it filled a need and the price was right.

I keep mine for bathroom reading material.

Decent year for me. Got a new PB but not by much. Spinnerbait was good to me. Also started to figure out jig fishing later on. New (to me) techniques like floating and swimming worms did very well once the weeds started topping out. Had a memorable trip to McGregor Bay Ontario with my dad and son in August. First time targeting small mouth. It was an absolute blast there. Already planning a return trip next year. Stupid tube was my weapon of choice there with honorable mentions going to the ned and drop shot. Some firsts this year with other species. Hybrid striper, Northern Pike, and saugeye.

Senkos were a staple for me when I was first starting out. I don’t use them all that much anymore. In fact I have several unopened bags just sitting around unused. Another one is the chatterbait. I’ve found that a Spinnerbait works just as good under a wider variety of conditions.

@1984isNOW I don’t how tall you are but I’m pretty sure those boots are at least 14-15” high.

Yeah that’s a whole other thing for sure. Comparing myself to other bank anglers though is somewhat difficult. Mostly because I make a conscious effort to avoid them. 😅

I appreciate the compliment, I really do. Coming from someone who catches 30-40 bass on a slow day that’s high praise. However, I’m still very new at this. I'm sure though that are probably plenty of folks out there in my fair state that would fish circles around me.

Went out today for the last 90 minutes before the sun started setting. I wanted to test out my new Tatula Elite Casting Rod and was hoping to break it in on some strip pit fish. As you can see by the photo today I was throwing a jig. I’ve caught fish on swim jigs and football jigs, but never on a casting/flipping jig. Today was my lucky day as I caught my first ever jig fish, and a decent one at that. I caught it off the end of a laydown. It made a last minute run as it got close enough to shore to see me but I was able to land it. I caught my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th jig fish shortly after that but only one was picture worthy I felt. I’m pretty stoked that jig fishing has finally clicked for me. I’m confident that given the bodies of water that I fish it will be a very useful technique for me going forward. I think the biggest difference for me today versus all the other times I’ve tried the jig, is casting accuracy and being able to thumb the spool to minimize splash.

Nice Quasimodo bass!

Yes. I’ve fished with monofilament my entire life until the last few years when I started experimenting with Fluorocarbon, copolymer, braid, and braid to leader. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Apparently neither did the fish I caught. Now I do think that every type of line has its pros and cons. I also think it’s up to the individual angler to decide what works best for them in their own particular situation.

I use the Lazer Trokar Weedless insert tube heads. The 1/8 oz. size fits 2.75 tubes well.

When I first started bass fishing I used the wacky rigged senko a lot. I liked to fish it around isolated shallow cover or skip it under overhanging vegetation. If I was fishing a new body of water it was the first bait I’d throw just to see if there were any fish present. Cast it out, give it a hop or two or three, and reel it back in. Repeat as needed. The Neko for me, was just a wacky rig for deeper water. Both presentations have been pretty much replaced by the Ned rig in my arsenal. It can do everything the others can do in one (smaller and cheaper) package. If I’m concerned about snags I’m not throwing any of the above. The shaky head gets the call there.

Strip pond No. 4 today. Today was a quantity day. 27 to be exact. Was hoping for a few bigger ones but they were MIA. All except three were caught on the double willow War Eagle which I cast into laydowns on the opposite bank, or when I casted along the bank I was on in my direction of travel to “clear” it before I could spook them. The other two fish I caught with a Rapala Husky Jerk out in open water once the pond got too wide for me to hit the opposite bank. The last fish I caught on a white SK heavy cover swim jig with a rage tail. Best five below…

I’m inclined to agree. In my experience the 1/0-1/8oz fits best with 3.3 and the 3/0-3/16 with 3.8 or similar sized paddle tails. The 3/0-3/16 IMO fits best on the Zoom Fluke (5in).

Yesterday I fished the strip pit again. Unfortunately I only caught two smallish fish. So I decided to check out some of the other strip pit ponds in the area, one was tinged yellowish orange and the other was clear but both were devoid of any signs of life. Today I went a little further into the woods to check out another pond that I saw on google earth. Given the length of the hike and the terrain I only brought my ML spinning rod and a fanny pack with some spare ned heads, TRDs, scale, leader material, and hemostats. Long story short, I caught 13 most of which were dinks but also some decent ones pictured below.

Caught 5 today, mostly this size. All of them with a white War Eagle double willow. Right in front of a beaver lodge at the strip pit. Also caught this PB Crappie in the same spot.